Before his arrest on child-pornography charges, ex-Wharton professor Scott Ward had extensively researched children as a consumer group.
According to his resume, Ward's research interests include the effects of television advertising on children and family patterns of consumer behavior.
He has been in court custody since his arrest last month at Dulles International Airport for importing child pornography. He has several other past arrests for sex charges involving minors.
Ward published multiple papers on the subject of advertising and children. He also wrote several books on the subject, including Children Learning to Buy: The Development of Consumer Information Processing Skills, published in 1977.
Daniel Wackman, director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Minnesota, co-authored the book with Ward.
"Our broader focus of research was on children's development and the effects of advertising on them," Wackman said.
Wackman said that he and Ward developed a study looking at 600 children in kindergarten, third and sixth grades to understand their consumer behavior. The study also included the children's mothers in an effort to document the impact of the family on this behavior.
Wackman said that he and Ward stopped working together because of a lack of funding in the early 1980s.
However, Ward continued publishing on the subject well into the '90s.
Throughout his career, he was awarded several grants to pursue research into children's consumer habits, including one from the Office of Child Development.
A trial date in Ward's case cannot be set until Ward has been formally indicted. A motion filed on Monday asked for a time extension to file the indictment, according to the Clerk's Office at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. For now, the clerk said, the case is just "sitting idle."
Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Patrick Artur said that extensions in these cases are not uncommon and usually have little significance.
"There's a million reasons it could be pushed back," Artur said.
Ward also faces additional charges of possession of child pornography in Pennsylvania due to images found in his Huntsman Hall office.
Ward's lawyer, Peter Greenspun, did not return calls for comment.
